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Uganda gunmen shot Kenya rioters
- Raila
Rodney Muhumuza, Emojong Osere & Risdel Kasasira
Daily Monitor - KAMPALA
10. January 2008
KENYAN opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Tuesday that he had
called President Yoweri Museveni to protest what he called the
presence of Ugandan gunmen in the lakeside city of Kisumu, where
riots erupted in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election.
The gunmen "have killed quite a number of civilians in Kisumu", Mr
Odinga said during an interview on KFM's Hot Seat show on Tuesday
evening.
The opposition leader, who claims to have won the disputed
December 27 presidential election, said Kisumu residents had
variously reported seeing armed men driven in vehicles with
Ugandan registration numbers. But the men were dressed in civilian
attire, the Orange Democratic Movement party leader said.
Mr Odinga revealed that President Museveni had denied knowledge of
the Ugandan military's presence in post-election Kenya.
"What happened is that there were vehicles with Ugandan
registration numbers. They were seen in Kisumu and the occupants
were wearing civilian clothes. They have been shooting and they
have killed quite a number of civilians in Kisumu…" Mr Odinga said.
"But I had occasion to speak to President Yoweri Museveni who
assured me that there are no Ugandan forces in the country, and I
have reason to believe what he was saying."
It is possible that the suspected Ugandan gunmen could have been
Kenyan police officers using vehicles from Uganda, he said without
citing a possible motive.
At least 600 people were reportedly killed in post-election
violence in Kenya. Mr Odinga himself says close to 1,000 Kenyans
died in ethnic battles. Nyanza Province, Mr Odinga's backyard, was
seriously hit by the post-election violence. About 300 of the
victims were residents of Kisumu, the province's headquarters.
There has been suspicion, especially among the border communities,
that Uganda may have played a silent role in events that led up to
bloody turmoil following Mr Kibaki's swearing-in ceremony on
December 30.
While campaigning in the border town of Busia last Saturday, Mr
Museveni faced questions from a crowd attending a rally at
Madibira Primary School in Busia, where he was campaigning for NRM
parliamentary contestant Sarah Wasike.
Some members of the crowd interrupted Mr Museveni's speech, asking
to know whether he unduly influenced the Electoral Commission of
Kenya into announcing President Kibaki as the winner.
But the President dismissed the allegations. "I did not make
Kibaki the president. It was the chairman [of the] Kenya Electoral
Commission that made him the president," he said.
It appears Mr Museveni's rush to congratulate Mr Kibaki upon his
re-election, the first and only message to have come from an
African leader, could have raised suspicion. Some analysts have
condemned the message, saying it was reckless.
It was not possible to independently verify claims of the Ugandan
military's participation in post-election violence in Kenya. But a
reliable source who was among the security personnel deployed in
Nyanza Province, which takes in Kisumu, said a curious Kenyan army
officer identified two Ugandans clad in the Kenya Police uniform.
The duo communicated in Luganda, the source claimed, a language
not used in Kenya's armed forces. After a brief interrogation, one
of the two gunmen allegedly admitted that he was a Ugandan, before
being whisked away by security.
An outspoken cleric based at the Katakwa Diocese in Kenya's Busia
District also suggested in an interview with Daily Monitor that
Ugandan soldiers could have crossed into Kenya in the wake of
post-election violence there.
Rev. Phillip Mwakio said last week that a convoy of six vehicles
bearing Uganda government registration numbers were seen crossing
the border into Kenya after the Kenya government had closed its
side of the border.
"It was at around 8p.m. that these vehicles crossed," the cleric
said. "We were surprised that vehicles would be allowed to cross
when the border was closed? It was unusual."
Rev. Mwakio said the tinted four-wheel drive vehicles sped past
the Busia border gates without the usual security checks and took
the Busia-Kisumu road amidst heavy deployment of security.
But the Busia RDC, Ms Robina Nabanja, said the claims were
baseless reports being touted by "prophets of doom" intent on
souring relations between the two neighbours. The Coordinator of
Uganda's Intelligence Services, Gen. David Tinyefuza, described
the claims as "rubbish" and an insult to both Kenya and Uganda.
"It is the opposition [who are propagating the claims]," Gen.
Tinyefuza said yesterday. "They are trying to incite the Kenyan
population against us."
Another knowledgeable source said Ugandan troops deployed to
Kotido and Moroto usually enter and pass through Kenya because of
the bad roads in eastern Uganda, and that the movements have
nothing to do with Kenyan affairs.
Relative calm has returned to Kenya after Mr Odinga called off
massive protest rallies in preparation for talks with the
government. But Mr Kibaki's formation of a new cabinet, announced
before the start of the talks, has not been welcomed by Mr Odinga,
who says he will not give up the presidential battle just yet.
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